Saturday, October 6, 2012

I'm back from my unintentional hiatus. Traveling back and forth through the Emirate, riding ferries, working, and making a bit of time for a social life has me a bit tired. I've finally mustered the energy to pen a post, upload to Instagram, and frolic on Facebook.

One of the best things regarding the experience of living abroad is "bed hopping". I refer to it as "bed hopping" because when I (we) go into the city (Abu Dhabi or Dubai) I (we) try different hotels based on rate, recommendation, and/or specials. If you guys didn't know, I am located in what is referred to as the Western Region which a bit outside of the city. In addition, I live on an island, so catching a ferry plus the drive is a bit much; so I bed hop.

Last weekend, we visited the Park Rotana in Abu Dhabi. Park Rotana is a contemporary, luxury, mixed use complex located on Al Salam Street near the airport. (There aren't addresses in Abu Dhabi - I'll explain later) The hotel offers non-smoking rooms (this is critical for non-smokers), a doctor on call, dry cleaning services, gift shops, salons, and a host of other services that will make your stay enjoyable.

The interior lobby area is just gorgeous and modern. This area is heavily used by the patrons for chatting, drinking tea or spirits, and unfortunately smoking. Smoking is such a big part of the culture here and I don't like that. I wish I could encourage a NO SMOKING campaign but I digress. Upon entering the hotel, we felt so welcomed. There are multi-lingual staff members who could easily accommodate me (English speaking) and my friend (Arabic speaking) with ease.

We immediately loved the room. Again, the facilities were so fresh and modern. We stayed in one of the more "affordable" rooms and the amenities were still great.

There are a variety of rooms available, but we opted for the two singles. ;)

Room service was great as well as the other options of restaurants and spirits. The bed was very comfortable but not plush like the hotel beds at home. This is pretty common here; hard beds. We will definitely put Park Rotana in our hotel rotation. It's inviting, modern, and has the amenities that we enjoy.

My friend and I recommend a few things to make the stay a bit easier; free internet, complimentary breakfast, and less expensive room spirits. Park Rotana is a bit outside of the city but was pretty easy to get to Ikea in one direction and the Corniche in the other.

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comments:

It looks much nicer. Now is bed hopping the same as house hopping because I know a lady who has moved 5 times just this year because of what I don't know but goodness. Glad to see you finally settling a little. BTW this is @kreative10 I don't know how to get that blog off of my main account it's a new blog I am working on.

This place is Beautiful. Oh how I so badly wish to move out of states, or at least see the world. ;-( This a truly a blessing for you. I hope you are enjoying your stay. Send me some nice unique gifts. lol

This is my first time reading your blog and- Whew! I'm glad you explained bed-hopping. In times gone by it meant something else and considering the name of your blog I had to look twice. I lived in the Middle East & it's interesting to see someone else's take. Keep on writing!